Do you ever wake up and just lack energy, motivation and start to sink under the burden of the day ahead, worrying about everything which may or may not happen, and looking at everything with dread?
Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s a virus – there are probably loads of labels or reasons you may add to justify it – but maybe, there is something far more positive you could do. Continue reading “4 ways to improve the view of your day”
Back in the day (the 80s), if you came across a group of teenagers, the chances are that they were standing around, sharing their cigarettes, and engaging in some form of social interaction. It may not have been for everyone’s taste to walk through a tobacco smoke plume, but hey ho, those lads and girls were interacting – even it it was also causing early damage to their developing lungs. Continue reading “What’s more addictive – cigarettes or phones?”
It is generally easy enough to think nice thoughts about other people (it is actually easiest to criticise, but that is a topic for another day).
You may have noticed over the years, that very few people are telepathic, they cannot read our minds. If the FBI cannot find a source of telepathic people to be agents, it is unlikely that the people we meet day to day will have such skills. Continue reading “How can you improve someone’s day?”
Reflecting back on your recent travels, journeys and holidays, how was it for you? Was it the tranquil, pleasurable experience you had hoped for, or did you experience challenges along the way? Did you embrace the moment, or just endure aspects of it?
Were you a tourist or a traveller?
Travellers tend to enjoy everything, embrace the moment, experience, wonder, not over prepare or over complicate, and focus on enjoying the here and now.
Tourists however, tend to want to tick things off their lists, have to be over prepared, everything planned to perfection, collecting photos for Facebragging and deeply concerned with telling everyone else what a great time they are having – sometimes, to the detriment of their own real enjoyment.
Similarly, if you have planned a wonderful holiday, are you tempted to lose some of the joy by travelling there on the cheap – budget accommodation, the cheapest transit, overnight journeys or inconvenient flight times?
Take a £3,000 holiday, yet you scrimp and save on getting there – maybe a slightly cheaper option to return home overnight when your travel plans suddenly change (would an over-night hotel stay left you feeling fully refreshed for your return). By saving perhaps under £100 (3% on the overall cost) you put yourself to hours of discomfort and lack a sleep – yet the point of the holiday was to relax, enjoy experiences and feel good about yourself. The whole point of the experience has been compromised.
Are you just wading through this life, collecting badges, medals, things, almost like living in Pokemon? Or, do you embrace what comes your way, taking in the moment to enjoy everything around you, feeling grounded, experiencing something different?
Is it too much to stop, embrace, reflect and make the most of what is happening around you, taking your time, adapting plans, and enjoying the moment?
Memories are made of new experiences, and being a traveller in life. It is only by exploring the why – why you want to go somewhere, that you then start to look for the real meanings and qualities of your journey, and that, is what Financial Life Planning is all about – finding the point and the purpose – not just being a tourist in life.
Life is far more than just attaining or doing – it’s about enjoying the whole experience along the way.
Many people find that their view and experience of their retirement may be very different from what they expect. Reality can be a pretty harsh awakener (especially if it’s your own retirement).
In the financial part of the equation, you can of course model, plan and adjust assumptions and figures as you head towards the big day and the rest of your life. Of course it takes a high degree of knowledge and skill to get the figures absolutely correct, and with the aid of technology, it is easier to get pretty close, even building in re-runs of the 2008 credit crunch (remember that?).
Even if you have the financial plan in place, it may be that the other side of retirement – LIFE – can all of a sudden, not unfold quite as you had imagined.
Will your retirement be all holidays and lunches at garden centres? Will it be just looking forward to watching your favourite TV show with an eccles cake and a cup of tea at 3.30pm ? Or, could it be full of purpose, full of fun, a brand new start?
Frequently people who had such high expectations for their retirement, find that a year or two in, they have managed to find themselves in a rut of mundaneness (they may even be fulfilling their spouses retirement and not even thinking about their own). They may even look back and wish that they had stayed working and be paid to be bored, rather than sacrifice an income and lack little social interaction.
People just like you are quickly realising that they need to plan their retirement just as they plan their future. That planning is not just about scheduling in a month-long break to Malta each October, but figuring out how each day and week may look for you. What will you do to happily fill the time, and regain your purpose and passions which may well have been put on hold for 50 years (whilst ‘grown up life’ for in the way).
Finding your happy retirement is not just going to be attached to a number – a certain amount of income, especially if all those years lack fun, freedom and a real purpose. You will probably find that the things which bring you the most joy, may not even cost much at all, you just need to find them and not be trapped in a retirement bucket.
Together we can bring some Serenity to your life
Many of us acknowledge that the journey to work is a real drag, that arduous commute, changing from 1st gear to 2nd, or jammed into a stuffy bus or tube train. That is no way to make you feel uplifted and positive about the day to come – far from it!
According to research by the University of West of England (analysing 26,000 people over 5 years), not only has the commute time increased by 25%, but 1 in 7 spend more than 2 hours commuting every day – that is 10 hours a week!
An increase in stress and worsening of mental health for workers (not to mention the impact that then has on their families). There are of course only 24 hours in each day – so choosing how to spend them is a very important task indeed. Continue reading “How bad is commuting for your mental health?”
It is all too easy to get caught up in the pursuit of career, work, hobbies, even obsessive about cleaning or just ‘stuff’ in general. The downside of all of this, is that we miss those who are really the most important to us, those who we can be pretty confident will be there as we take our last breath. Continue reading “6 Reasons Spending Time With Family is Important”
Can you imagine the cost of missing out on university ?
Now, I am not talking about a specialist role which needs a degree, but rather (as tends to be common) someone who has no particular direction, but thinks that uni will be a good option for a few years, because all their pals are going there.
The big question here is, are you willing to invest a huge amount of YOUR FUTURE money on the speculation that you may get a better outcome. Let’s see… Continue reading “The cost of missing out on university”
Here is a questions often asked – what is a financial life plan, and why would I need that as opposed to a financial plan?
More and more consumers are understanding that there is a difference between the old way of financial advice (selling as many products as possible) and financial planning (where recommendations are able to demonstrate that they are relevant and appropriate for the long term).
So where is Financial Life Planning different? Continue reading “What is a financial life plan ?”
A question I have been mulling over – ‘is financial advice negative or positive’ – or is it aimed to create negative feelings, then solve them with overly positive predictions or scenarios, or actually, should it be to create positive feelings, then stay sensibly grounded, aware of what could happen (negative scenarios)? Continue reading “Is the financial advice experience negative or positive?”
Escaping The Bucket 